The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
Baylor
No. 4 Men’s Tennis takes down No. 6 Baylor, 4-3, on Senior Day
03.31.2019 | Men's Tennis
The Longhorns secure their fourth-straight win over the Bears and their fourth top-10 victory this season.
Austin, Texas – The No. 4 Texas Men's Tennis team took down No. 6 Baylor, 4-3, in its final home regular season match on Sunday at the Texas Tennis Center. It was the Longhorns' fourth-straight win over the Bears and their fourth top-10 victory this season, and they are now 19-2, equaling their best record through 21 matches since 2010.
"This was huge match for us," interim head coach Bruce Berque said. "With Baylor, we know their ranking of being No. 6 in the country, but we also know they're one of the more competitive teams in the country. With us having lost the doubles point and to come back out and have such strong performances on so many courts (in singles) was impressive. It was a great performance by our guys and a testament to the senior leadership we have on this team."
It was only appropriate that a senior would clinch the match on Senior Day. Colin Markes did the honors at fifth singles, fighting back after dropping the first set to defeat Sven Lah, 2-6, 6-0, 6-1. Lah opened strong early, taking a 3-0 lead in the first set, and Markes answered with two deuce point games to cut it to 3-2, but Lah went on another run, this time of four straight, to win. However, from that point on, it was all Markes. The Austin native playing his final regular season match at home captured 10 straight games and 12 of the final 13 to complete a critical comeback. At the time, it gave Texas its fourth-straight point and a clinching 4-2 lead. Markes is now 12-2 in dual match play this season.
The Longhorns had been down, 2-0, after dropping only their third doubles point of the season, along with Adrian Boitan defeating senior No. 104 Leonardo Telles, 6-2, 6-2 at third sinlges, to snap Telles' seven-match winning streak. Junior No. 9 Yuya Ito quickly answered back to cut the lead in half with a 6-3, 6-0 victory over No. 40 Johannes Schretter at second singles. After Schretter won the first game of the first set, Ito took back-to-back deuce games and pushed to a 3-1 lead. Schretter took back two deuce games of his own both on serve to pull within 4-3, but Ito then closed out the set. It went quickly from there as Ito pitched a shutout in the second set and earned his team-leading 19th dual match singles win, including nine in a row, with four of the last five coming against top-40 opponents.
Being Senior Day, another senior stepped into the singles lineup and then stepped up in a big way. Rodrigo Banzer was inserted at sixth singles and pulled off an impressive 6-4, 6-0 win over Jimmy Bendeck. The players stayed on serve in the first set up to a 4-3 lead for Banzer when he was able to break on a deuce game for a 5-3 lead that he held to 6-4. As with Ito, from there the match went quickly as Banzer pitched his own shutout for the win that tied the overall match, 2-2. It was Banzer's second singles win of the weekend to make him 8-2 in dual matches this season.
Junior No. 6 Christian Sigsgaard followed Ito and Banzer by delivering his own straight-sets win, 6-3, 6-4 over No. 45 Matias Soto. It was Sigsgaard's fifth win over a ranked opponent in his last six results. Like Banzer and Bendeck, Sigsgaard and Soto stayed on serve in the first set up to a 4-3 lead for Sigsgaard when, again like Banzer, he broke serve on a deuce game for a 5-3 lead and then finished it for the 6-3 win. In the second set, Sigsgaard was down 2-1 after dropping a deuce point, but he rallied for three straight games and a 4-2 advantage. From there, the players stayed on serve to the 6-4 finish and set the stage for Markes to clinch.
After the clinch, the teams played out the final match between senior No. 59 Harrison Scott and No. 82 Will Little. Scott took the first set, 6-4, but Little won the second, 6-2, and the third, 6-1, for the overall 4-3 final score.
Earlier Baylor captured just the third doubles point against Texas this season. No. 1 duo Bendeck and Lah were able to break on the opening game against No. 7 Scott and Sigsgaard and establish a 2-0 lead. Scott and Sigsgaard made it 2-1, but Baylor then went on a 3-0 run to lead, 5-1, before winning, 6-2. Markes and Telles found themselves down early, 3-0, against Little and Soto, but rebounded to pull within 3-2 after a break before Little and Soto strung together another 3-0 run to clinch the point. Ito and freshman Chih Chi Huang were leading their match, 5-4, against Schretter and Constantin Frantzen when doubles ended. Huang and Ito were also down early, 2-1, but this time they were the team to put together a 3-0 run to be up, 4-2, leading to where it ended at 5-4.
The Longhorns now head on the road for their final three regular season matches, starting with another top-10 Big 12 matchup against No. 9 TCU in Fort Worth on Saturday, April 6, at 3 p.m.
No. 4 Texas 4, No. 6 Baylor 3
Singles – Order of Finish (3,2,6,1,5,4)
1. #6 Christian Sigsgaard (UT) def. #45 Matias Soto (BU), 6-3, 6-4
2. #9 Yuya Ito (UT) def. #40 Johannes Schretter (BU), 6-3, 6-0
3. Adrian Boitan (BU) def. #104 Leonardo Telles (UT), 6-2, 6-2
4. #82 Will Little (BU) def. #59 Harrison Scott (UT), 4-6, 6-2, 6-1
5. Colin Markes (UT) def. Sven Lah (BU), 2-6, 6-0, 6-1
6. Rodrigo Banzer (UT) def. Jimmy Bendeck (BU), 6-4, 6-0
Doubles – Order of Finish (1,2)
1. #1 Jimmy Bendeck/Sven Lah (BU) def. #7 Harrison Scott/Christian Sigsgaard (UT), 6-2
2. Will Little/Matias Soto (BU) def. Colin Markes/Leonardo Telles (UT), 6-2
3. Yuya Ito/Chih Chi Huang (UT) vs. Constantin Frantzen/Johannes Schretter (BU), 5-4, unf.
(UT)
Players Mentioned
